


Ibic Mand'ara Cuyir

by kesomon



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Empathy, Father & Son - Freeform, Gen, Mandalorian Culture, Mando'a, Telepathy, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21781570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kesomon/pseuds/kesomon
Summary: He may be in over his head.He is also too invested to care.
Relationships: The Mandalorian & The Child
Comments: 12
Kudos: 364
Collections: Movies





	Ibic Mand'ara Cuyir

**Author's Note:**

> Self-prompt from a stray thought: Yoda's species gains telempathic communication before vocal speech, being strong in the force; also, entertain the mental image of tiny yoda mando. This kid needs their own armor.
> 
> Timeline for this is extremely ambiguous, show-wise. Just put it any point after the Mando's guild betrayal.
> 
> I did a lot of Mando'a dictionary crawling so while my grammar might not be perfect, I hope I haven't mistranslated anything too badly. Translations on hover-text and in the end notes.
> 
> I conjugated 'This is the Way' as Ibic Mand'ara Cuyir - Ibic is 'this' and 'cuyir' is 'exist/be', but 'the way' is actually te'ara, not very...punctuative? for the Capitalization that those words get. So I decided on 'Manda + ara', The Way Of Mandalore. Together, it's literally: This, Mandalore's Way, exists.

It begins with guilt, he must admit, echoes of his own past acid-etched with the foundations of his training. Guild Law at war with the code of the tribe he swore to uphold. But the spirit of his soul is shaped and forged in the _beskar _stamped by Imperial crest. The betrayals of the Empire and its Great Purges reached more than just the _jetiise_ , and Mandalore does not forget.

_ Mando’ad draar digu. _

It’s what drives him to break Guild Law, to take up arms against clients for the sake of watery eyes and the plaintive warble of a child’s cry of distress. But then, after.

After his ship reaches the black, endless expanse. After he’s scoured the whole of the Razor Crest for tracking beacons, crushed beneath his heel. After he’s taken them through seven hyperspace jumps and hidden his engine signatures in the hazy field of a gas giant’s crystalline rings. After he collapses, exhausted, to the tolerable padding of his sleeping berth, the Child nestled in his lap, and removes his helmet for the first time in days.

Large dark eyes reflect up at him, solemn and deep for such a small being. The trust of the innocent pierces deeper and wounding more well than any blaster bolt.

He may not be _ad’manda’yaim_ , true-born of the planet whose code he keeps, but he is _mando’ad_ and the _Resol’nare_ resonates in his bones, in the hum of his ship that shivers the _beskar’gam_ he wears.

It is guilt that begins this fool’s quest, but it is The Way that drives him to cup the Child’s fragile head, bending to murmur the words against the wisp-haired green head. In his heart he remembers the purpose and strength of belonging, of clan and kin and family. This is a foundling, as he was, and none are more precious to the tribe.

_ "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Ad’ika; cabur vow, gai bal manda. De ba'jur bal beskar'gam, ara'nov, aliit, Mando'a bal Mand'alor ...an vencuyan mhi. Ibic Mand’ara cuyir." _

_This is The Way._

His life may be forfeit to the Bounty Guild but Mandalore protects their own.

He opens his eyes when the sensation of tiny, baby-sharp talons prick through the under-armor weave of his elbow joint, and finds the Child’s gaze half-lidded, enraptured, a sparse-toothed grin on their lips. They coo with happiness and snuggle against his chestplate, gumming at the edge of the _beskar_ with absent concentration. It is, as he feared with all the heartsick realisation in his bones, too adorable for words.

"You like that, ankle-biter?" His voice is gruff, soft. "Gotta say. You’ll beat any records for smallest _ Mando’ad’ika_ in the tribe. Not the youngest, though. Wonder if they count it if you’re of-age, but can’t speak a word." That would be a damper on swearing to the tenants of Mandalore. He can’t help but chuckle, trailing fingers over the child’s back, soothing.

The child blinks up at him, mid-gum, and purrs.

The warmth of _clan and kin and family_ floods his mind, like sinking into the steaming hot springs of Carosi, his own feelings of the _Resol’nare_ echoed back trifold. It is the truth of _mandokar_ , shaped so often by the words recited in litany. _Ibic Mand’ara cuyir._

It is also _unbidden_ , not his own, and reverberating with such a deep sense of _other_ that he gasps, gooseflesh rising and eyes wide. Dimly, he’s aware of the child’s talons clutching closer, those dark, deep eyes sliding shut; the feeling of warmth gives way to sleepy contentment, before fading entirely.

He is left to _breath_ in the dark of the ship’s hold.

" _Osi’kyr_..." he mutters, awestruck and numb. "Well. I suppose that’s...that."

He may be in over his head.

He is also too invested to care.

"Sleep well, you little womp rat," he finally sighs, adjusting the child so that he can too lie down, and his eyes close without difficulty. Within minutes, the motion sensor lights go dark, and there is peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a translations  
> \---------------------  
> beskar - mandalorian iron  
> jetiise - Jedi, plural  
> Mando'ad draar digu - A mandalorian never forgets  
> ad'manda'yaim - of the planet of mandalore/ born mandalorian  
> mando'ad - son of mandalore / one who has taken up mandalorian values.  
> Resol'nare - the tenants of mandalorian belief  
> beskar'gam - armor made of mando iron  
> Ni kyr'tayl... - adoption statement, I know your name as my child.  
> ad'ika - little one  
> cabur vow... - a vow of protection, adoption ceremony  
> De ba'jur... - recitation of the tenants of the Resol'nare, lit: "By education and armor, self-defense, our tribe, our language and our leader...all help us survive."  
> Ibic Mand'ara cuyir - conjugated Ibic (this) Manda + ara (the spirit/way of mandalore) cuyir (existance/being), "this be the way of mandalore."  
> mando'ad'ika - little child of mandalore  
> mandokar - the 'right stuff,' the essence of being manda.  
> Osi'kyr - a strong exclamation of surprise.
> 
> Many thanks to wikipedia and to the the [Mandoa.org dictionary](http://mandoa.org/).


End file.
